Good sources of Billboard stats

[psychoadept]

I've found these sites really helpful, so thought I'd share in case others are interested:

Billboard Year End Top 100s:
http://www.bobborst.com/popculture/top-100-songs-of-the-year/

Chart Peaks and No. Weeks on the Chart (and exact release dates):
http://bullfrogspond.com/artist-link.htm

[jannuh]

Very helpfull, thnak You!

[psychoadept]

I've changed my methods since I first made this post.  I still recommend these sites as being very thorough, but the single most accurate record of Billboard charts that I've found is http://song-database.com.  It requires a subscription to use more than a tiny bit, but I decided it was worth it ($30 for lifetime - I donated more than that to MB).  It's much more accurate (in terms of the historical record) than Billboard.com or even bullfrogspond.com (because bullfrog gets his data, especially the older stuff, from Joel Whitburn, who sometimes combined multiple charts in his accounting).  If there's a discrepancy, I usually go with what song-database says.  The only exception is for some singles where both sides charted, and Billboard didn't distinguish, but song-database does.

However, bullfrogspond.com has a downloadable spreadsheet, which was recently updated to include stats through Oct 25, 2014.  I've taken that and customized it to my purposes, and I'm using a combination of billboard.com and song-database.com (for everything after the Top 100/Hot 100 was begun), and hitsofalldecades.com (for 1940-1955) to corroborate (and sometimes add) the data.  The latter site has a few issues that crop up, too, (notably that he cuts many early charts off at 20 even if they were longer) but it's reasonably consistent and accurate in its reporting.

Also, if the data elsewhere seems really shaky, I can check the source!  Google Books has almost all of Billboard Magazine since 1942 available.  I've caught a few of Joel Whitburn's inaccuracies that had been propagated even as far as Wikipedia by going to the original source.  You can find it here: https://books.google.com/books?id=N_YDAAAAMBAJ

Am I going way overboard with the level of detail and accuracy in my library?  Probably.  But I'm having fun!

[Zak]

Am I going way overboard with the level of detail and accuracy in my library?  Probably. 

Not "probably". Definitely. 

But I'm having fun!

And that's all that matters.

I'm glad you bumped this thread. Those Billboard charts will make good playlists.

[psychoadept]

I'm glad you bumped this thread. Those Billboard charts will make good playlists.

Yeah, that's what I do with them.  I haven't had any luck organizing my library by genre, but doing it by chart year works well.

[psychoadept]

Bullfrog's site is down (my interpretation of the explanation is because Billboard is being a bully).  So here's his hot 100 spreadsheet, up to date through 10-25-14:

https://app.box.com/s/4xcq5jw4mmtyy8kkcgjner8i0z0k2vjj

It has a some errors and inconsistencies, but overall it's more accurate than the billboard site itself.  I've corrected my own version of the spreadsheet (heavily modified) as I've gone along. I'll share it if it ever gets to a complete-ish state, but right now it's in an in between state that would probably hurt more than it helps.

[alec.tron]

Heh, just looking for a random music thread and saw this, so I just leave this here as it does show/play the top billboard hits in its own way...:

"Every top 5 song, from 1958 - 2016, so we can stop arguing about when music was still good. "
http://polygraph.cool/history/

Happy clicking & listening.
c.

[phred]

Heh, just looking for a random music thread and saw this, so I just leave this here as it does show/play the top billboard hits in its own way...:

"Every top 5 song, from 1958 - 2016, so we can stop arguing about when music was still good. "
http://polygraph.cool/history/

Happy clicking & listening.
c.

This is a truly amazing presentation!!! Thanks for posting this alec.tron.
Note to first time visitors - you can select the decade/year at the bottom of the window.